Posted by Kromey at 2:31pm Jan 9 '12There's also a more miliaristic foreign policy in the US in general (as evidenced by the number of aggressive wars you have been in compared to most European countries), and that's usually considered to be a policy of the right as well.
Okay, that's fair, but barring Obama's illegal intervention in Libya (which was actually supported by the less-aggressive European countries, interestingly...), our left isn't much for the wars of aggression either -- the war hawks are almost universally from our right.
I think there is less of a gulf on economic issues, but there is still a distinct void of American voices on what is the economic left here, for example proposing taxes on big business, super taxes on high income individuals, spending more on increasing equality and the like.
I would disagree on this point -- our left (and not just the far left) definitely wants to raise taxes on big business and high incomes. I'm sure they're not calling for tax rates as high as you're seeing, but when the highest tax bracket is a mere 35% calling for a 80% rate (or whatever) would be seen as absolute lunacy, to say nothing of having absolutely no chance of ever passing. If an 80% tax rate is your goal, you have to work your way up there from the current 35% -- you can't just go straight there.
Okay, that's fair, but barring Obama's illegal intervention in Libya (which was actually supported by the less-aggressive European countries, interestingly...), our left isn't much for the wars of aggression either -- the war hawks are almost universally from our right.
I think there is less of a gulf on economic issues, but there is still a distinct void of American voices on what is the economic left here, for example proposing taxes on big business, super taxes on high income individuals, spending more on increasing equality and the like.
I would disagree on this point -- our left (and not just the far left) definitely wants to raise taxes on big business and high incomes. I'm sure they're not calling for tax rates as high as you're seeing, but when the highest tax bracket is a mere 35% calling for a 80% rate (or whatever) would be seen as absolute lunacy, to say nothing of having absolutely no chance of ever passing. If an 80% tax rate is your goal, you have to work your way up there from the current 35% -- you can't just go straight there.
Re: [private] provided most of the answer to this - Kromey